The National Pension Service (NPS), the country's top institutional investor, lost a whopping 9.9 trillion won (US$8.7 billion) from stock investments through July this year, a lawmaker said Saturday.

According to the data presented by Rep. Yoo Jae-jung of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, the combined value of local shares held by the investor came to 123 trillion won as of end-July, down from 131.5 trillion won estimated at the end of last year.

(Yonhap)

The NPS newly invested 1.5 trillion won in local shares throughout July this year, which is higher than the initial plan of 940 billion won for all of 2018.

Yoo claimed the average loss from the investment came to 6 percent as of the end of July.

The lawmaker claimed the loss is worrisome as more South Koreans are concerned about a potential depletion of the fund in the future.

Yoo said the lackluster return is also attributable to the fact that the chairman seat of the service has been vacant for more than a year. (Yonhap)